Vedic civilization

 This article is part of the 
History of South Asia series.

 Indus Valley civilization

 Vedic civilization

 Middle kingdoms of India

 Islamic Empires in India

 Mogul Era

 Company rule in India

 British Raj

 Indian independence movement

The Vedic civilization is the earliest civilization in Indian history of which we have written records. It is named after the Vedas, the early literature of the Vedic people. The Vedic texts have astronomical dates that some have claimed go back to the 5th millennium BC. The use of Vedic Sanskrit continued up to the 6th century BC.

Table of contents

1 The early Aryans 1.1 Political organization 1.2 Society and economy 1.3 Literature and Religion 2 The later Vedic period 2.4 Kingdoms 2.5 Society 3 References

The early Aryans

Unfortunately, the origin of the Vedic civilization and its relation to the Indus Valley civilization remains highly controversial. The texts describe a geography that some believe to be north India. The greatest river of the Rigveda was Sarasvati, often identified with the defunct Hakra river in modern-day Pakistan, which ceased to reach the sea by about 1900 BC. Our knowledge of the early Aryans comes mainly from the Rigveda, the earliest of the Vedas.

Political organization

The rashtra (state) was governed by a rajan (king). The king is often referred to as gopa (protector) and samrat (supreme ruler). He governed the people with their consent and approval. It is possible that he was sometimes elected. The sabha and samiti were popular councils.

The main duty of the king was to protect the tribe. He was aided by two functionaries, the purohita (chaplain) and the senani (army chief; sena: army). The former not only gave advice to the ruler but also practiced spells and charms for success in war. Soldiers on foot (patti) and on chariots (rathins), armed with bow and arrow were common. The king employed spasa (spies) and dutas (messengers). He often got a ceremonial gift, bali, from the people.

Society and economy

Families were patrilineal, and people prayed for abundance of sons. Education of women was not neglected, and some even composed Rig Vedic hymns. Marriage for love as well as for money was known. The concept of caste and hereditary nature of profession was unknown to the early Aryans.

The food of the early Aryans consisted of parched grain and cakes, milk and milk products, and various fruits and vegetables. Consumption of meat was common. A passage in the Rig Veda describes how to apportion the meat of a sacrificed horse. Beef was also eaten, although this practice gradually declined since the cow was a valuable resource: it is often described as aghnya (that which should not be killed). It must be borne in mind that vegetarianism took firm root in India only after the rise of Buddhism and Jainism in the sixth century BC.

Literature and Religion

Vedic literature consists primarily of the Vedas; but also includes Shruti and various Smriti texts. The Vedic rites were meant to help the participant transform; this was primarily accomplished via sacrifices (such as the agnihotra).

There are astronomical references of chronological significance in the Vedas. Due to precession of the earth, the seasons shift at a rate of about a month every two thousand years. Some Vedic notices mark the beginning of the year and that of the vernal quinox in Orion; this was the case around 4500 BC.

The rishis saw the universe as going through unceasing change in a cycle of birth and death, potentially free yet, paradoxically, governed by order. This order was reflected in the bandhu (connections) between the planets, the elements of the body, and the mind. At the deepest level, the whole universe was bound to, and reflected in, the individual consciousness.

The place of sacrifice represents the cosmos. The three fires used stand for the three divisions of space. The course of the sacrifice represents the year, and all such ritual forms part of continuing annual performances. The rite culminates in the ritual rebirth of the yajamana (sacrificer), which signifies the regeneration of his universe. It is sacred theatre, built upon paradoxes of reality, where symbolic deaths of animals and humans, including the yajamana himself, may be enacted.

The Vedic gods represent the cognitive centers of the self. Vedic science is the science of consciousness.

The Vedic pantheon is considered to consist of thirty-three different gods, which are placed, in groups of eleven, into one of the three different categories: atmospheric, terrestrial, or celestial, each of which has its own area of responsibility. But just because a god is in one category does not mean that it is completely different from a god from another category; for sometimes a god from one category will have some of the same qualities of a god from another category. This is because the Vedic system is recursive.

The categories of the gods are: 1) Agni, terrestrial; 2) Indra, atmospheric; and 3) Surya or Vishnu, celestial that mirrors the body, prana, and atman division of the individual. Since one aspires to reach the inner being through the prana (atmosphere), many Vedic hymns extol Indra.

See also: Gayatrimantra

The Vedic religion presents a unitary view of the universe with God seen as immanent and transcendent in the forms of Ishvara and Brahman, respectively. Brahman is projected into various deities in the human mind. The main deities were Indra, Varuna, Surya (the Sun), Mitra, Vayu, Agni and Soma. Goddesses included Prithvi, Aditi, Ushas and Sarasvati. Deities were not viewed as all-powerful. The relationship between the devotee and the deity was one of transaction. Each deity had a specific role; at any given point, a particular deity was considered superior to the others.

The mode of worship was performance of sacrifices and chanting of verses. The priests helped the common man in performing rituals. People prayed for abundance of children, cattle and wealth.

The later Vedic period

Kingdoms

Society

References